Use the Canada.com interactive tool to see how common your school name is

What’s the secret to getting a school named after you? Prominence? Popularity? Being prime minister?

Maybe it’s knowing the pope?

St. Joseph is the most popular school name in Canada, with 63 schools named after him. The second place name is, naturally, St. Mary with an even 60 schools. Rounding out the top five religious school names are St. Patrick, St. Michael and St. Peter.

In fact, religious school names dominate the school names in Canada. But not by a huge margin. Coming in fourth place for the most common school name in Canada is Queen Elizabeth with 21 schools. Prince Charles is deep in her shadow, with a mere five schools.

Canada’s first prime minister, Sir John A. Macdonald, meanwhile, only has six schools named after him. Lester B. Pearson has 12 — not to mention an airport (Macdonald has half an airport, shared with Cartier in Ottawa).

Other notable Canadians who have made the great leap to being recognized with a school name include Chris Hadfield, who has one. But Marc Garneau, the first Canadian in space, has five. Roberta Bondar, the first woman in space and first neurologist, has three.

David Suzuki has three, while Pierre Elliot Trudeau shows him up solidly with nine. Alexander Graham Bell has a meagre one while artist Emily Carr has four. Aboriginal leader Tecumseh, who helped fight the Americans in the War of 1812, has six.

But we’re not all about our own famous people. Winston Churchill comes in with 19 schools in Canada. Goodness knows how many British schools bear his name.

You can explore our entire database of schools in Canada with this interactive tool. Type a whole school name, or just a keyword, and see how unique it is.

Note: This feature may not work in Google Chrome browser. If the interactive does not display, try Firefox.